NHLN Power Rankings: Nov. 7, 2016

It’s time for your weekly dose of the NHL Numbers power rankings, a weekly look on the previous week in the NHL. I’ll look at the five best and worst
NHL teams thus far in the season, as well as the three best and worst
players in the last week.

Note: All use of Corsi For and Expected Goals For are Score and Venue Adjusted, and at even strength. All stats come from Corsica Hockey, and NHL.com (don’t worry, it’s only the standings).

THE TOP FIVE

5. Montreal Canadiens (Last Week: 3)

(10-1-1 record,49.09% CF%, 49.5% xGF%, 104.29 PDO)

Despite starting the season with the best record in Habs history, Montreal drops a couple spots. Perhaps its because of another historic moment this week – a 10-0 loss to the other fifth place team in this power rankings.

4. St. Louis Blues (Last Week: 2)

(7-4-2 record, 54.15% CF%, 53.34% xGF%, 97.1 PDO)

If I were to pick one of the teams on this weeks list to be on the list near the end of the season, St. Louis would probably be my bet, since they have similar numbers to the other teams, but have had much worse luck thus far.

3. Pittsburgh Penguins (Last Week: N/A)

(8-2-2 record, 50.13% CF%, 53.94% xGF%, 101.92 PDO)

Remember when Pittsburgh was average to start the season? Well, that Crosby guy is back, and now they’re tearing up the league again.

2. Washington Capitals (Last Week: N/A)

(8-2-1 record, 54.64% CF%, 56.17% xGF%, 103.54 PDO)

The Caps are improving on last year, as they are seeing similar success, but with much better underlying numbers that give us a sign of them maintaining it this year.

1. New York Rangers (Last Week: 4)

(10-3-0 record, 50.04% CF%, 56.58% xGF%, 104.09 PDO)

The Rangers top off the list as the second team to hit 10 wins, much better numbers than the first team to do so (the Habs), and also are red hot on a five game winning streak, scoring at least five goals in all of them.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

Despite scoring the most goals in a game on Friday against the Habs, the Blue Jackets sneak onto the list, as their underlying numbers have slowly been creeping downwards despite the good start.

4. Calgary Flames (Last Week: N/A)

(5-8-1 record, 48.15% CF%, 44.48% xGF%, 99.28 PDO)

It’s been a slow start for all of the Flames key players, from the net to the top line, so it’s been pretty ugly for the Flames so far. Their PDO doesn’t show much hope for rebounding either.

3. Vancouver Canucks (Last Week: 1)

(4-7-1 record, 46.14% CF%, 43.75% xGF%,97.76 PDO)

The Canucks have slightly improved their possession over the last week, part of the reason why they moved up a couple spots, despite an eight game losing streak.

2. Winnipeg Jets (Last Week: 3)

(5-7-1 record, 49.09% CF%, 42.16% xGF%, 97.63 PDO)

Patrik Laine aside, it hasn’t been good for the Jets thus far. Both their goaltending and offense have been under performing still, and the team looks like it’s really missing Jacob Trouba.

1. Arizona Coyotes (Last Week: 5)

(4-7-0 record, 46.16% CF%, 40.5% xGF%, 100.65 PDO)

To the surprise of no one, the Coyotes haven’t been good this season, partially because they are still in their rebuilding mode. Perhaps they can claw their way back in, but it might be the case of another high pick for the Desert Dogs.

THE REAL MVPS

1. Matt Murray (2-0-0, .985%, 1 SO)

A part of Pittsburgh’s resurgence over the last couple weeks aside from the return of Sidney Crosby is the return of Matt Murray, who this week was almost unbeatable, allowing only one goal, and that was on the power play.

2. Corey Crawford (3-0-0, .971%, 1 SO)

Crawford had a similar week to Murray, allowing just three goals over three games, with only two of them at even strength. Even more impressive, the two 5v5 goals were high danger goals, so Crawford was flawless in terms of the easier shots.

3. Nikita Kucherov (3G-4A-7P in 3GP, 60.33% CF%)

Kucherov was an offensive phenom this week, putting up seven points in just three games. However, a lot of this production was on the power play, so that does play a role.

THE TIRE FIRES

1. Semyon Varlamov (0-3-0, .829%)

It was a tough week for Varlamov, as he allowed 14 goals in three games this week, with eight of them coming at even strength. His team couldn’t bail him out either, as he laid a goose egg in the win column.

2. Travis Hamonic (0G-0A-0P in 3GP, 29.21% CF%)

Speaking of tough weeks, it hasn’t been too good for Hamonic. Not only is he now out for 4-6 weeks, but he also had a brutal week possession wise, with a 29.21% CF% during the week.

3. Al Montoya (0-1-0, .750%)

Fun with sample sizes! Montoya was the goalie in net for Montreal during their 10-0 loss to the Blue Jackets. All. Ten. Goals. Poor Al got hung out to dry, and his numbers took a massive nosedive for it.

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